Kosovo stages second Gay Pride parade under heavy security

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PRISTINA (Reuters) - Hundreds of people turned out on Wednesday for Kosovo’s second Gay Pride parade under heavy police escort after a party that espouses Islamic values urged the government to scrap the event.

People hug during the second lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Pride Parade in Pristina, Kosovo October 10, 2018. REUTERS/Laura Hasani

Participants waving rainbow flags marched in bright autumn sunshine in the rally - whose motto is “In the name of freedom” - from the main government building in the capital Pristina to a central square where they danced, embraced and kissed.

Kosovo deployed special police units to protect the marchers but no incidents were reported. The former Serbian province, which declared independence in 2008, is 90 percent Muslim and, like much of the Balkan region, socially conservative.

“We call on state institutions not to deny our identity,” Lendi Mustafa, one of the organisers and who is transgender, told the crowd. “Today we demand freedom for people who have no possibility of escaping the pressure of family and society.”

“We all fight for the same goals, we share the same values so it is logical that despite our different ethnic background we support each other,” Savic, from Belgrade Pride, told Reuters.

On Tuesday, Fjala (Word), a political party that fights for the rights of Muslims, said the Gay Pride event was “a parade of shame”, and tried unsuccessfully to have it cancelled.

Some rights activists say Kosovo should allow same-sex marriage. At present the constitution says “everyone enjoys the right to marry” but family law also states that those who marry should not be of the same sex.